If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Poll: I own a Volt or am strongly considering one.

Be advised that this is a public poll: other users can see the choice(s) you selected.

More of a Bush car really. Federal tax credit was signed by Pres. Bush for plug-ins (he also had support of tax credits for hybrids such as the 100% imported Prius). Chevy was designing and defining the Volt specs during the Bush presidency. Obama was "just hanging around as President' when Chevy put the car out.

Republicans should be all over EVs to support their agenda of "North American Energy Independence by 2020". Of course, that just means more oil production in N.A. during this timeframe. They don't realize that the Nat. Gas production can feed electric companies and that can feed EVs so less oil is even needed for import. They support the oil industry by supporting production but miss a great opportunity to actually use it's products wisely in a fiscally and ecologically conservative way. Electric vehicles would cut ongoing costs for government fleet vehicles, improve the import/export factors we have, improve GDP by more local manufacturing (Leaf, Volt, Tesla, Ford Energi) and perhaps bring drivers back to more domestic brands instead of their continued latching onto imported vehicles from Germany, Japan, Korea and other locations.

I am a Democrat, but that didn't enter into my car-buying decisions. I know Volt owners who are liberal and owners who are conservative. I believe that our common interest in the environment, against Big Oil, and for a more efficient/clean way of driving is what has driven most to buy a Volt. A stereotypical Volt owner would be a Democrat, but there is a fairly equal split between owners and their political tendencies.

I bought to get off oil. I was there for the 70's gas rationing and since then the price of gas is on a continuing upward trend. I did not want to be a hostage to oil.

People want the government to "do something" about our over reliance on oil imports and the cost of fueling a car. Well, "The Government" in the form of GW Bush and a Republican Congress finally did do something: they passed the alternative fuel vehicle tax credit, the start of what is now the $7500 tax credit. THAT was a brilliant laudable action.

Now I have done my part: I bought a Volt. Result: I have dropped my oil consumption by 70-80%. That this very desirable outcome has been turned into an Obama-socialist-dictator thing in an effort to kill the Volt just speaks to how screwed up the current GOP is. Like others, I did not leave the GOP, they left me.

Seeing the distortions and outright lies that representatives of the GOP have flung at something so relatively insignificant as the Volt (after all, it's just a car) simply made clear to me that I could no longer believe much of anything they said on more important topics.

So I guess you'd say I'm a fallen-away Republican forced by the GOP hijackers to vote for Obama.

I am not a big fan of big government, but also I recognize that government initiatives can be beneficial - where would Los Angeles air quality be without the EPA? Maybe like Bejing where you almost never see the sun. So I think limited and reasonable green initiatives are OK. Gradual change is good. Extremes are not.

Like others, I have seen energy costs and energy wars cripple the US economy. As an engineer in the 80's I was involved in early EV development funded by EPRI, TVA and others and saw it as an economic restorative, a way back. It was apparent then as now that the economy was not self-healing. Recently, alternative energy in all it's forms became an initiative again, and I have been shocked and dismayed by the vicious politics employed to support the downward spiraling status quo. Sadly, I see the CEO of Exxxon proclaim the electric car as unworkable as very workable Teslas, Volts, and Leafs trickle onto the roads against the headwind of a multi-million dollar propaganda campaign.

Sadly, I see the CEO of Exxxon proclaim the electric car as unworkable as very workable Teslas, Volts, and Leafs trickle onto the roads against the headwind of a multi-million dollar propaganda campaign.

What's he supposed to say? It's his job to make Exxon as profitable as possible.

Personally, I bought my Volt for 3 reasons: a) pragmatic reason: it would save me ~300/month in gasoline costs; b) political reason: I'm a conservative, and I absolutely hated giving my money to people who are trying to annihilate us; c) geek reason: it's a technological marvel, and since I work in a technical environment I got a lot to talk about with colleagues, etc.

a) was the principal reason. The only kind of green that motivates me is the kind with pictures of dead presidents.

Just a Prius-owning watcher sticking his oar in. (Since my wife's sadly determined not to have a BEV and I commute 41.4 miles the Volt is currently my best future plug-in option, but I'm not strongly considering it yet, so I'm not voting in the poll).

I think the responses are interesting, and it seems like the poll should have had a 3rd option for disillusioned Republicans.

PS I can't vote (PR* from the UK) but would have voted for Obama. I was a Conservative Party voter in the UK, and although my politics have shifted center, there's still a possibility I'd vote for them there, while there's 0% chance I'd vote Republican here. Energy policy is just one of the reasons.
* I can apply for citizenship, but I don't take Oaths lightly.